Brett Knutson has nearly perfected the formula to vitalize brands marketing directly to consumers by offering solutions for strategy, creative, e-commerce, paid media, production, and influencers. Of the lessons learned over the course of his career, Knutson values the importance of equity sharing and brokering. He actively shares his story when and where he can, serving as an international speaker in the same ranks as Gary Vaynerchuck and Steve Wozniak. Spending nearly two years attempting to raise capital for his software startup Hive, something clicked and enabled his story full of hard work, determination, less than ideal housing conditions and very little sleep to begin. We had the pleasure of speaking with Brett about him about what drives him on this road least often traveled. His ability to make money alongside guiding others to build their own businesses, sets him apart from other businessmen.
M: You are often called a serial entrepreneur; how old were you when you knew you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
B: So I actually grew up in a township of 600 people, and the word entrepreneur, I didn’t even know what it was until I was an adult. I grew up super sheltered from that. I think my parents maybe knew that I was different and didn’t want me to see any other option than the option they wanted for me, which was to go to college and pick a safe degree, get a job and work my way up. My mom is a teacher and my father is a cop, so you know, a very traditional family. For me, as soon as I discovered that there was an option B, I immediately chose that.
He says around 18 is when he met his first mentor and raised 6 figures for their first venture , which turned out to be a failure. After learning from his mistakes he rekindled his passion for business and continued on to work on Hive, a project in which he was able to secure millions in investments from investors in Silicon Valley.
After Hive he recalls how he even furthered his success, “Post Hive, I had a friend who suggested I should teach people on how to raise money. I started a digital accelerator called capital academy. I helped the companies raise over 30M over a course of 6 months. I ran that for a brief period of time and got equity as an advisor for those companies.
Then I started a marketing agency called Monopolize (www.monopolize.com), 1 year ago, and made 6 figures in one month. Everyone was interested in how we accomplished that and legally bypassed FTC regulations regarding the influencers and ads. We gave equity to the major influencers so it would be their app. So for me, Monopolize was probably what I should have done in the first place. I partnered with the underground wizards of the marketing world and now we work with the biggest brands, influencers, and celebrities to help with all their digital marketing needs”.
When asked what piece of advice he could give to our readers he said, “It would be to not take advice, or to only take advice from the people that have or don’t have the life that you don’t have. You have to take advice from people in the specific area that you want to succeed in”.
Brett Knutson with his one of a kind creativity and raw passion will continue to solidify himself as a major name in businesses world wide. To keep up with Brett follow him on instagram @knutson
